TWI421892B - A keyboard with an illuminated light source - Google Patents

Description

Keyboard with illumination source

The present invention relates to a keyboard, and more particularly to a keyboard having an illumination source.

With the rapid evolution of computer technology, such as desktop computers or notebook computers, it has become an indispensable necessity in human life. Among the various types of computers, the keyboard is still the most important input device for users to input commands or data, and its position in the modern society where computer input is becoming more and more diversified remains unshakable.

Because the keyboard is irreplaceable in computer applications, the development of the keyboard is closely related to the user's application convenience. Among them, in order to allow the user to use the keyboard to input commands or materials in places where there is insufficient light, a keyboard with an illumination source comes into being. What's more, with the user's requirements for the thinning of the keyboard, uniform illumination, structure and process simplification, there are several new patents such as the Republic of China Announcement Nos. M324816, M347618 and M366176. A different keyboard structure. However, there are still some shortcomings in the requirements of the thinning of the keyboard, the uniformity of illumination, the simplification of the structure and the process.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard having an illumination source that provides a keyboard configuration that more closely conforms to keyboard thinning, illumination uniformization, structure, and process simplification.

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a keyboard having an illumination source comprising: a button circuit group, a lower conductive plate electrode, an upper conductive plate electrode, and a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements. The upper conductive plate electrode is disposed between the button circuit group and the lower conductive plate electrode, and the upper conductive plate electrode has a plurality of openings for isolating the insulating layer of the lower conductive plate electrode and the penetrating insulating layer. A plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements are respectively attached and electrically connected to the conductive plate electrodes exposed to the openings and to the conductive plate electrodes adjacent to the openings.

In one embodiment, the upper conductive plate electrode of the keyboard having the illumination source is composed of a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil with an insulating layer, and the lower conductive plate electrode is a bottom plate of a metal keyboard.

In an embodiment, the upper conductive plate electrode of the keyboard having the illumination source is a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil with an insulating layer, and the lower conductive plate electrode may or may not be insulated according to the material of the keyboard bottom plate. A layer of copper foil, tin foil or aluminum foil. The keyboard bottom plate may be a metal material or other relatively rigid non-metal material, and is disposed on the other surface of the lower conductive plate electrode adjacent to the upper conductive plate electrode.

In an embodiment, the button circuit set of the keyboard having the illumination source comprises: a thin film circuit board, a plurality of pivoting scissors legs and a plurality of key caps. The thin film circuit board is adjacent to the upper conductive plate electrode, and has a plurality of paired sensing electrodes and a plurality of elastic pressing buttons corresponding to the paired sensing electrodes. One of the plurality of pivoting scissors feet is pivotally connected to the bottom plate and sleeved around the elastic pressing button. A plurality of keycaps are respectively connected to the other ends of the pivoting scissors feet corresponding to the elastic pressing buttons.

In an embodiment, the opening of the keyboard having the illumination source is correspondingly disposed around the pair of sensing electrodes.

In one embodiment, the semiconductor light emitting element having the keyboard of the illumination source is a light emitting diode.

In summary, the keyboard with the illumination source provided by the present invention directly attaches and electrically connects the semiconductor light-emitting element as the light-emitting source to the opening, such as copper foil, tin foil or aluminum foil. The upper conductive plate electrode and the lower conductive plate electrode do not need to use a light guide plate or other complicated printed circuit board, so it is in line with the characteristics of thin keyboard, uniform illumination, structure and process simplification. In particular, when the metal base plate of the keyboard is directly used as the conductive plate electrode under the semiconductor light-emitting element, a conductive plate can be further omitted, which is more suitable for the thinning of the keyboard and the simplification of the structural process.

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and understood.

Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, which are diagrams of a keyboard having an illumination source according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the keyboard 10 having an illumination source includes a button circuit group 11, a plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements 12 such as a light-emitting diode (LED), an upper conductive plate electrode 13, and a lower conductive plate electrode 14; Base plate 15.

The bottom plate 15 can be made of a metal material or other relatively rigid non-metal materials such as hard plastic so as to serve as a support bottom for the entire keyboard 10. A plurality of support columns 151 are disposed above the bottom plate 15 for sequentially inserting the conductive plate electrodes 14 and the upper conductive plate electrodes 13 at the corresponding positions of the support columns 151, and fixing the button circuit group 11 to Above the upper conductive plate electrode 13.

The button circuit group 11 is mainly used for detecting a button pressed by a user, and converting the detected result into a standard keyboard signal and transmitting it to the connected computer to provide an input interface for the user to input a command or a data. Therefore, in addition to the built-in or external integrated circuit (not shown) having the function of converting and transmitting standard keyboard signals, the key component group 11 further includes a thin film circuit board in this embodiment. 111. A plurality of pivoting scissors feet 112 and a plurality of keycaps 113.

The thin film circuit board 111 is adjacent to the upper conductive plate electrode 13 and has a plurality of paired sensing electrodes 115 disposed thereon. A plurality of elastic pressing buttons 116 are correspondingly disposed above the pairing sensing electrodes 115, and the elastic pressing buttons 116 are respectively disposed around the same. A plurality of pivoting scissors feet 112 pivotally connected to the supporting posts 151 of the bottom plate 15 are disposed. The other ends of the pivoting scissor legs 112 are respectively connected with a plurality of key caps 113 respectively for providing a user's pressing function. With a better touch feel.

In this embodiment, in order to allow the user to use the keyboard 10 to input commands or data in a place where the light is insufficient, the application is sequentially inserted into the conductive plate electrode 14 and the upper conductive layer under the support column 151 above the bottom plate 15. The plate electrode 13 serves as an electrode of the semiconductor light-emitting element 12 to connect the lower conductive plate electrode 14 and the upper conductive plate electrode 13 to a driving power source, so that the driving power source directly drives the semiconductor light-emitting element 12 to emit light, thereby achieving thinning of the keyboard 10 and uniform illumination. Characteristics of the characteristics of the structure, structure and process simplification.

The upper conductive plate electrode 13 is formed by a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil with an insulating layer 131, so as to be insulated from the lower conductive plate electrode 14 by using the insulating layer 131, and the lower conductive plate electrode 14 may also be It is composed of a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil with an insulating layer 141. Of course, as is known to those skilled in the art, when the bottom plate 15 is made of a non-metal material such as hard plastic, the lower conductive plate electrode 14 can also be made of a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil without the insulating layer 141.

As shown, the upper conductive plate electrode 13 is disposed between the button circuit group 11 and the lower conductive plate electrode 14. The upper conductive plate electrode 13 corresponds to the periphery of the paired sensing electrode 115 and has a plurality of penetrating insulating layers 131. Opening 132. The semiconductor light-emitting elements 12 are respectively attached and electrically connected to the conductive plate electrodes 14 below the openings 132 and to the conductive plate electrodes 13 above the openings 132 to respectively conduct the upper conductive plate electrodes 13 and the lower conductive layers. The plate electrode 14 serves as an electrode for driving light.

Please refer to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, which are diagrams of a keyboard having an illumination source according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the keyboard 20 having an illumination source also includes a button circuit group 11 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements 12, an upper conductive plate electrode 13, and a bottom plate 15. However, in order to further reduce the thickness and simplify the structural process of the keyboard 20, the bottom plate 15 of the keyboard 20 is directly charged as the conductive plate electrode under the semiconductor light emitting element 12, and the lower conductive plate electrode 14 in FIGS. 1 to 3 is omitted. Wherein, in order to drive the semiconductor light emitting element 12 to emit light, the upper conductive plate electrode 13 is also made of copper foil, tin foil or aluminum foil with the insulating layer 131 attached thereto, but the bottom plate 15 of this embodiment must be made of conductive metal or non. Made of metal.

In the foregoing embodiment, since the upper conductive plate electrode 13 and the lower conductive plate electrode 14 (or the bottom plate 15) are each formed of a conductor such as a whole piece of copper foil, tin foil or aluminum foil, the manner in which the semiconductor light emitting element 12 is driven to emit light is It is the semiconductor light-emitting element 12 of the keyboard 10 or 20 that is entirely turned on or off, and it is impossible to illuminate only a partial area. Therefore, if there is a need for local area lighting, the upper conductive plate electrode 13 or the lower conductive plate electrode 14 can be further divided into several regions as needed, or outside the upper conductive plate electrode 13 and the lower conductive plate electrode 14. By adding one or more layers of conductive plate electrodes and electrically connecting the semiconductor light-emitting elements 12 to different conductive plate electrodes, respectively, the purpose of controlling the semiconductor light-emitting elements 12 of different regions at different times can be achieved.

While the invention has been described above by way of a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the invention, and it is intended to be within the scope of the invention. . Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

10, 20. . . keyboard

11. . . Button circuit group

111. . . Thin film circuit board

112. . . Pivot scissors

113. . . keycap

115. . . Induction electrode

116. . . Elastic button

12. . . Semiconductor light-emitting element

13. . . Upper conductive plate electrode

131, 141. . . Insulation

132. . . Opening

14. . . Lower conductive plate electrode

15. . . Bottom plate

151. . . Support column

1 is an exploded perspective view showing a keyboard having an illumination source according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a perspective exploded view showing a single button of the keyboard of FIG. 1.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a single key combination of the keyboard of FIG. 1.

4 is an exploded perspective view showing a keyboard having an illumination source according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a perspective exploded view showing a single button of the keyboard of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a single key combination of the keyboard of Figure 4.

111. . . Thin film circuit board

112. . . Pivot scissors

113. . . keycap

116. . . Elastic button

12. . . Semiconductor light-emitting element

13. . . Upper conductive plate electrode

131, 141. . . Insulation

132. . . Opening

14. . . Lower conductive plate electrode

15. . . Bottom plate

151. . . Support column

Claims (6)

A keyboard having an illumination source, comprising: a button circuit group; a lower conductive plate electrode; an upper conductive plate electrode disposed between the button circuit group and the lower conductive plate electrode, having an insulation insulating the one of the lower conductive plate electrodes And a plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements respectively attached to and electrically connected to the lower conductive plate electrodes exposing the openings and the upper conductive plate adjacent to the openings On the electrode. The keyboard with illumination light source according to claim 1, wherein the upper conductive plate electrode is made of copper foil, tin foil or aluminum foil with the insulating layer, and the lower conductive plate electrode is made of metal. A bottom plate. The keyboard with illumination light source according to claim 1, wherein the upper conductive plate electrode is a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil with the insulating layer, and the lower conductive plate electrode is a copper foil, a tin foil or an aluminum foil. The lower conductive plate electrode is adjacent to the other surface of the upper conductive plate electrode and is provided with a bottom plate. The keyboard with illumination light source according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the button circuit group comprises: a thin film circuit board adjacent to the upper conductive plate electrode, having a plurality of paired sensing electrodes and corresponding to the pairings a plurality of elastic pressing buttons of the sensing electrode; a plurality of pivoting scissors legs, one end of which is pivotally connected to the bottom plate and respectively sleeved around the elastic pressing buttons; and a plurality of key caps, corresponding to the elastic pressing buttons Correspondingly, they are respectively connected to the other ends of the pivoting scissors feet. The keyboard having an illumination source as described in claim 4, wherein the openings are correspondingly disposed around the pair of sensing electrodes. The keyboard having an illumination source according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor light-emitting elements are light-emitting diodes.